Hungary's deputy speaker of parliament has said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was mistaken when she said the Hungarian government “misled” migrants arriving in the country in September 2015.

Gergely Gulyás made the remarks during a roundtable discussion at the German Embassy in Budapest, in regards to an interview Merkel gave to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Merkel said that migrants who had departed from Budapest on foot towards the Austrian border in 2015 had done so because they had been “misled” by the Hungarian government. She added that the fact that “some countries refuse to accept any refugees is not on. That contradicts the spirit of Europe.”

Gulyás said that despite disagreements on issues such as the resettlement quota for asylum seekers and migration policy, the bilateral relationship “is based on mutual respect and appreciation”. He added that Europe does best under Germany’s leadership.

The deput speaker also noted that trade between the Visegrad Group and Germany was higher than German-French trade.